Three Level 3 Sports Students from Kidderminster College made it to the Final of the “Your Pitch” competition recently.

Organised by free digital e-learning platform YourGamePlan, this competition invited young people of all ages from 13-19 to pitch their idea for this year’s JD Christmas Advert.

457 young people entered the competition, and the 55 finalists, including Kidderminster College’s Kassie Martin, Sacha Hart and Immie Evans, were invited to the Headquarters of Meta in London on Wednesday 26 June to present their ideas to judges Tim Campbell (Winner of the first series of the Apprentice), Chris Waters (Marketing Director for JD), Russie M (Social Strategist and D&AD Advertising Trustee), and Beau Jackson (Media Editor).

All finalists were also invited to take part in workshops with Channel 4, JD and marketing agencies Good Stuff and JCDecaux. There may also be work experience opportunities.

YourGamePlan Founder Danny Heath said: “I don’t think any of us expected the quality to be so unbelievably high, from the concepts themselves, the high level of research, incredible presenting skills and elite production levels. To see this from students as young as 13 was frankly incredible.

Tim Campbell told the students that he really liked their advertising idea – “Today, tomorrow and always” and was very impressed by their pitch.

Tutor Sophie Austin said: “I am extremely proud of these girls. They presented themselves so well. This was such an incredible opportunity for them and I’m glad they’ve really thrown themselves into it and got as much out of it as they can. Kassie had never been to London before and was quite nervous about it so we made sure we did all the touristy things, and showed her how fun it can be!”

Sacha said: “Going in front of the judges was really nerve-wracking, especially as we’re sports students and they were asking us all these advertising and marketing questions. But we remembered what Sophie had said, so we stepped back, took a deep breath and thought about our answer. It was such a great day, I’m so glad we got to go.”

NCG Works with YourGamePlan on a number of initiatives including National Interview Week – where recruiters and CEOs run mock interviews with our students online